Last Last Chance
by AJzkitten69
Summary: Post Episode 3x20: Emancipation. Fitz and Simmons come up with a plan to deal with Hive. If it works, Hive will be defeated and trapped, and Grant Ward will be alive. Everyone hates the plan, but Ward is a much more manageable threat than Hive. But there might be some side effects...
1. Chapter 1

Last Last Chance

Chapter One

"Director, I believe we've come up with a solution," Jemma Simmons started saying.

"In theory, at least," piped in Leo Fitz, her friend, sort-of boyfriend, and partner-in-crime.

"And you're going to hate it," she added.

"In practice. And in theory, for that matter."

Director Phil Coulson held his hands up. The two scientists were exhausting when they got like this, and he was exhausted enough already by current events. "Just...out with it, please. I can't possibly hate your solution more than I hate the idea of Hive taking over the world."

"I would reserve judgment on that, sir," Simmons said, taking one of the seats in front of Coulson's desk. Fitz took the other, then started spreading out sheets from the folder he'd been carrying all over the director's desk. He really didn't need to bother. For the most part, the papers he was pulling out were all charts and numbers of the sort of super-science that really only FitzSimmons could comprehend. Coulson scrambled to make sure his other paperwork, which he'd only just gotten into some semblance of order, didn't fall victim to the young man's enthusiasm.

Though, now that he thought about it, "enthusiastic" wasn't the word he'd use to describe FitzSimmons at that moment. "Determined dread" seemed more like it. Like people sentenced to death, but determined to go out with their dignity intact.

"Everything we know about Hive has told us that he is indestructible because he possesses the bodies of the dead, and even if we were to destroy one body, he would just jump, or perhaps slither, to the nearest available human corpse," Simmons said.

"Yes, and the planet Earth has no shortage of corpses, so he's more or less immortal," Coulson finished.

"But we had this idea..." she began, hesitated, then looked to Fitz for help delivering the blow.

He picked up where she left off immediately. "We think we should try to trap him in a living body."

"Interesting," the director admitted, "but why would Hive jump into a living body? We have no evidence to suggest that's even possible."

The scientists glanced at each other again, silently communicating. They'd discussed it, and they had agreed the best approach would be to feed Coulson a little information at a time until he was able to jump to the conclusion himself, so he wouldn't be able to blame either of them for thinking of it. They needed to nudge it along further.

"He wouldn't, but you see," Simmons slid a picture forward of what looked like Grant Ward in excellent health, but both the date stamped on the bottom and the fashion choices told him it was Hive. "Hive seems to have healed all the damage you..." She coughed and then tried again. "Hive has healed all the damage done to Ward's body that caused his death."

"And Daisy tells us he has access to not only all of Ward's knowledge, but also his thoughts and feelings. This leads us to believe that whatever thing it is..." Fitz stopped, looking a bit helpless. He was a man of science, most comfortable thinking and speaking of things he could experience with any or all of his five senses. He was much less experienced with the ephemeral, but he plowed on, regardless. "Call it a soul or whatever you want. Whatever it is or was that made Ward...Ward. We believe it's still in there. The only thing keeping him dead, so far as we're able to tell, is the lack of a heartbeat."

Coulson ground his teeth together. He understood what FitzSimmons was saying now, and they had been right. He hated every possible bit of what they were proposing. "Just to make sure I have this right, you're suggesting we somehow get close enough to Hive to restart Grant Ward's heart, thereby trapping Hive in Ward's very much alive body."

"In theory," Fitz said again.

"So we would be replacing the global threat that Hive represents with a more manageable threat like Ward."

"Except we wouldn't be able to kill him again, at least not any time soon. We have no idea what the effects would be of trapping Hive in Ward. Our best guess is that Hive would slowly, well, I suppose the best way to put it would be to say it would slowly break down into its component parts and die, but even if we're right about that, we don't know how long that would take, and killing Ward, or even allowing him to die, before that happened would most likely just release Hive all over again," Simmons explained.

"So my choices are Hive, the Inhuman monster who can't be killed, or-"

"Or Grant Ward, the psychotic assassin who is inhuman in a whole different way," said a voice from the doorway.

All three of them looked toward the doorway, surprised to see Daisy there, leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Who we also wouldn't be able to kill," Fitz helpfully added. Daisy glared at him.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who hates this plan," Coulson said.

Daisy didn't react to the lightness of his tone. "I don't know how long you've been talking. I don't know how you even think any plan to bring him back could possibly work, but I know that if you think it's a good idea, you're almost as crazy as him. And I want no part of it."

She turned and disappeared down the hallway, shaking hopefully only with rage and not with the need to cause an earthquake that might level the Playground. Fitz rose to go after her, but Simmons stilled him with a hand on his arm, and he returned reluctantly to his seat.

"We need to finish this conversation first, Fitz. There's no point arguing with her if the director decides it can't or shouldn't be done. If it can, we need more of a plan to present to her so she'll be forced to listen to reason."

"Don't get comfortable. You'll probably need to speak to her sooner than you think," Coulson said. "I assume you'll need someone to get close to Hive to restart his heart? You can't do it from a distance. I'm guessing you'll design some gizmo that will hopefully do the trick, and you'll need someone to plant it on him?"

Fitz and Simmons looked at each other. Coulson had guessed their tenuous plan correctly, and they looked back at him and nodded.

"Thought so. There's exactly one person we know that has even half a chance of getting that close to him without getting her mind taken over. Whatever Lash did to her, along with freeing her from Hive's influence, he seems to have made her immune. If there's a snowball's chance in hell of this working, that snowball's name is Daisy." Coulson gathered the papers Fitz had strewn over his desk and put them back in the folder they'd come from before handing it all over to the other man. "So go talk to her."

Fitz took the folder, nodded to Simmons, and then set off after Daisy. Given her direction and the mood they'd put her in, her destination wasn't hard to guess. He found her quickly in an otherwise empty training room, beating the hell out of a sandbag that he guessed she was picturing as Ward. Or possibly him, Simmons, or Coulson. Maybe all of them.

"You remember that time when Ward turned away from you like a coward, admitted that he cared about you and Simmons, that you mattered, and then dumped you into the ocean to die? That's the guy you want back."

"I don't _want—"_

"And like you said, we can't kill him, and we damn sure can't release him on the population, so what? It'd be back to Vault D with him, _if_ we're lucky, _if_ whatever you're planning works. He'd be our responsibility for as long as he lives. Our own personal Hannibal Lecter."

"As far as I know, Ward never ate anyone," Fitz argued, trying to bring some light into the conversation.

"Hive did. Who knows? Maybe Ward got a taste for it. I wouldn't put it past him."

Except, of course, that she _would_ put it past him. There was still that annoying small voice inside her that never wanted to leave that beautiful, idyllic time (in hindsight, at least), when it was just the six of them on The Bus. That voice was an idiot, and she lashed out further against the punching bag because she couldn't shut it up. She couldn't even shut up Fitz.

Fitz fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Fine. Ward dines on human flesh and rots down in Vault D, occasionally forcing you to talk to him if we want valuable information, and to top it all off, he suddenly starts calling you Clarice. You're right. That's much worse than Hive extinguishing human life on this planet."

"I didn't say that," Daisy replied, hitting the bag at the wrong angle and grimacing. She hit it again, harder. "I said-"

"You said you'll have no part in the best plan we've got because your hurt feelings are more important than all our lives and the lives of the rest of the human race." He paused. "Well, you didn't _say_ that, but it _is_ what you're saying."

"No, I'm _saying_ get someone else. If you have to do it, fine, we do what we have to do. But there are better people to be involved than me. Lincoln's got the electricity. Maybe he can use it to restart his heart. You want to plant something on him? Send Yo-Yo. She's so fast she can be in and out before anyone knows what's happening."

"Two excellent strategies," Fitz agreed, taking a seat on a nearby bench. "Of course, we can't depend on either of them to work because Hive can take over their minds, while yours is safe." He winced as Daisy pummeled the bag. Now he was _sure_ she was picturing him.

"Damn it, Fitz!" she yelled, giving up on the bag and going to join him on the small bench. Her pulse was sky-high just from the conversation. She didn't need to add a workout to that. "Stop being so logical! Stop acting like I'm the crazy one because I don't want to help resurrect the guy who ripped out my heart and almost killed my friends."

He locked eyes with her as she sat down next to him. "You want less logical? Fine. Let's leave the world out of it for a moment. Ward almost drowned me and left me with deficits that kept me locked up in my own mind for months. If he's in Hive still, which we believe he is, then even though it's not even close to the same thing, no one understands better than me what that must be like." He took a deep breath to calm himself, then went on. "Ward was a traitorous bastard who committed a mountain of crimes that he probably wouldn't be able to make up for if he lived a thousand years, if he even wanted to. But can you look me in the eyes right now and tell me that you believe he deserves to suffer for an eternity, trapped inside his own body, trapped inside Hive? He hurt you so badly that he doesn't deserve a second of peace from now until the end of time, or at least until someone else finds a way to stop Hive. You can tell me all that, and you can mean it?"

Now Daisy could understand why Ward wouldn't look at FitzSimmons before completing the control sequence that was meant to send them to their death. If he'd looked into their eyes, maybe he would have faltered. Like she did.

She looked away from Fitz's earnest blue eyes. "What do you need me to do?"


	2. Chapter 2

Last Last Chance

Chapter Two

Two days later, Daisy stared at her cell phone, determined to make the call she was trying to hype herself up for, but also dreading it in a way that made her throat want to close up. The ten innocent little numbers glared up at her from the screen, and she pulled her legs up to her chest. She could do this. She hit the green symbol and lifted the phone to her ear.

It rang six times before it was picked up. "What?" the voice grunted.

"James? It's Daisy. I need to talk to Hive."

"You lit out of here pretty fast a few days ago. Could be he doesn't want to talk to you. Maybe you're not the favorite anymore."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Was there a time she hadn't been at least mildly disgusted by this man? Yes, but only under Hive's influence. Even then, she found him distasteful. "Don't you think he'd like to make that choice for himself? I can't imagine he'd be thrilled when you hang up on me, I manage to get through to him anyway because I'm _me,_ and he finds out you didn't give him a chance to say yes."

There was a long pause, and she knew he was considering hanging up on her anyway. She stayed quiet because she hadn't been kidding about finding another way to get in touch. She knew she could do it, even if it took a few days that she'd rather not waste.

Finally, he said, "Yeah, yeah, okay. Hold on."

While she waited for him to find Hive, Daisy concentrated on what she was going to say and how she was going to be convincing. She'd never been much of an actress. Her time with SHIELD had helped, but was it enough to fool a disturbingly observant immortal? It would have to be. They really only had one shot at this plan, and far too much of it depended on her.

She heard muffled voices and shuffling on the phone, then, "Daisy?"

"I want to come back," she said in a rush, pouring every ounce of desperation she could into her words. "Please. Please, I need to come back."

"I...don't understand," Hive admitted. "We're not connected anymore. Whatever that creature did seems to be permanent."

"I know." She closed her eyes, picturing John Garrett. "I know it can't be undone, and I hate him for it." She dismissed the image from her mind, calling up one from her early days at SHIELD, before it all fell apart. "But I want to come back anyway. I've never felt so happy before, so...at peace. I know where I belong. I believe in what you're doing, and I want to be a part of it, even if the bond or whatever it was is severed and can never be fixed."

"If all that is true, then why did you leave in the first place?"

Daisy had prepared for that question and had discussed potential answers with the team before choosing one that sounded plausible. "Once the bond was cut, I had to go back to my team so I could tell them I wanted to leave. They didn't believe me when I told them before, but when I told them without your influence, they had no choice but to accept it or lock me up. It had to happen this way, or they would have kept coming after us forever, and I don't want to have to kill them."

"And they won't come after us if you leave now?" Hive asked.

"Not if I leave in peace and don't steal any of their stuff. If I take my car, I can be in Union City in two days."

Daisy bit her lip as silence stretched over the line, knowing Hive was trying to decide if she was lying. "You'll come alone? Normally I wouldn't object to you bringing your friend Lincoln along, but after the fiasco he caused last time, I'd just as soon have him stay put for the time being."

She let out a sigh of relief, and it was genuine, though it wasn't for the reasons Hive probably thought. "Thank you. I'll come alone. I won't fail you again, I swear."

"Then I will see you in two days, Daisy."

The line went dead.

"Did I do okay? Do you think he bought it?" she asked.

"I would have," Coulson answered.

"I wouldn't," May said, "but I was watching your face. Your voice alone was passable."

"I don't like the idea of you going alone," Lincoln said.

"What a surprise," May murmured, too low for anyone but Daisy to hear. She looked at the older woman who had become her mentor when her first one had failed her so spectacularly, but May didn't seem to want to say any more on the subject.

"Alone is the only way this works. I'm the only one who he wants there who can't be controlled by him. If I bring any of the team, he'll have them killed without a second thought, and I have enough guilt. If I bring another Inhuman, he can take them over faster than I can do anything about it."

"I should still go with you," Lincoln argued. "If we take a van, I can stay inside and he never even has to see me. What you need to do shouldn't take long, and I shouldn't even have to get out of the van. I can just be there as backup for when things inevitably go wrong."

 _Did May just roll her eyes?_ Daisy thought. She might have seen it happen out of the corner of her eye while she was looking at Lincoln, but she couldn't be sure, and now May's impassive mask was back in place. "Honey, don't take this the wrong way, but if you go, _I_ won't. I'm not risking anyone else. I'll feel guilty for the rest of my life for the things I did under Hive's control. The last thing I need is to get someone I care about killed, in addition to all that."

"Great, so once again I'm stuck at the base while my girlfriend runs off into mortal danger." Lincoln stormed out without another word, and Daisy rose to go after him.

May caught her arm. "If you're going to be in Union City in 48 hours, you don't have time to soothe Campbell's bruised ego. FitzSimmons needs to brief you on the device they've cooked up for you to use, and that takes priority."

Daisy nodded, both knowing May was right and not wanting to piss her off. May's ex-husband had just died to save her, and she could barely look her former S.O. in the eyes. She knew that it wasn't her fault, that she couldn't be blamed for her actions under Hive's influence, and that May herself had put Lash on the quinjet, but in her heart, she wasn't sure she'd ever forgive herself for being the reason behind his death.

"Right," she agreed quietly. "I'll talk to him if there's time before I leave. Just..." she looked at Coulson, pleading, "keep an eye on him while I'm gone, okay? Don't let him inject himself with anything untested or mount a rescue mission or something."

"You got it," Coulson said.

Daisy made her way down to the lab, hoping they could give her some clue as to how she was going to pull off a resurrection. The plan hadn't been put into motion until Fitz came up with the tech to make it happen, but she'd wanted to get the call to Hive out of the way before seeing it for herself. She thought she would be more believable if she wasn't picturing using whatever the device was on him, so she had avoided knowing about it until now. The downside of that was that she hadn't been able to veto the gadget. She had to put her trust in FitzSimmons to do their part, just as they had to do with her.

She entered the lab to find Fitz attempting to piece together several bits of metal and Simmons carefully putting a cap on a frighteningly large syringe filled with a clear liquid.

"Please tell me that's not for me," Daisy said, pointing at the syringe.

"Well, I'm giving it to you, but no, it's a possible step two in bringing Ward back." The way Simmons said the last three words showed her aversion to the plan, even if it was the best one they had and was, in fact, partly her idea.

"And step one is...?"

Fitz stood up from the table and presented her with a disk-shaped object about four inches in diameter and an inch thick. Daisy took it and was surprised to find it weighed about five pounds, much heavier than she was expecting. The only feature that she could see on the otherwise blank silver surface was a button on the outer edge of the device.

"Step one is you put this in the middle of his chest and push the button. Hopefully you won't even need a step two," Fitz said.

"But if you do," Simmons added, "try to get this needle into a vein. Not sure if it will work because his heart isn't actually pumping his blood, but it certainly can't hurt."

"Okay," Daisy said, looking over the gizmo and hoping to see some magical bit that would explain how it would work. Since all she saw was the button, and it was unwise to push buttons on things designed in this lab when she didn't know what they did, she looked at Fitz again and waited for him to explain.

He recognized the look immediately. "After you push the button, the device will dig in to his chest so it can't be removed until it's done. Even through clothes, it should work. So long as it's just cotton or something and not, say, body armor. Anyway, it will dig in and start emitting a mild magnetic charge that should keep his parasites in place. Then it will extend built-in machinery to shock his heart until it starts going again. It will stop automatically if or when it senses a heartbeat, and it will detach."

"Cool," Daisy said, impressed. "How long does it take from the time I push the button to start shocking his heart?"

"About five seconds. Hopefully it'll only take one or two shocks to get it going again, and then, again hopefully, you'll be dealing with Ward instead of Hive. If it takes more than ten seconds after you push the button, stick that needle in his neck."

"And what's in the needle?" she asked.

"Epinephrine, along with a few other things," Simmons answered. "It will aid the device in bringing his heart back into working order. Medically speaking, anyway. I make no guarantees for his personality being improved."

"Okay, and how worried should I be about how many times you guys have said the words 'hopefully' and 'should' in the last two minutes?"

The two scientists looked at each other, and Simmons sighed. "Unfortunately, we can't actually test the device. We're working entirely in theory. It would likely kill anyone we tested it on."

"Mechanically, it does what it's meant to when you push the button," Fitz assured her. "But it's meant for exactly one being. Everything we know tells us that this is the best possible way to get Ward's heart beating again. But..."

"But you don't know if that will actually have any effect on Hive, and even if it does and we get Ward back, you don't know what he'll be like, with Hive trapped inside," Daisy finished.

"Precisely." Simmons shook her head, at a loss for words for a moment before she recovered herself. "I hate that we're sending you into this much danger so unprepared. And the best case scenario here is we're back where we started before Ward died."

"More like before we traded him to his brother," Fitz said. "Being that he'll likely be back in Vault D."

Daisy stiffened and had to call on all the training May had given her to not to let them see her reaction. She couldn't count the lies that Ward had told when he was on their team, but she'd never doubted his terror toward his older brother or the nightmare that he claimed his youth had been. She wasn't sure she could name a biggest regret in her life, but not fighting Coulson on that decision had to make her top five. She silently promised both Ward and herself that he would not be traded and used as a pawn again. Allowances would also have to be made so he didn't attempt suicide again. But she was getting ahead of herself. All of that would have to wait until after she'd survived and succeeded in her mission.

"I better get going. I've got a hell of a drive ahead of me," Daisy said, hoping to move things along so she wouldn't stand there, ruminating on the past, for too long.

Simmons walked over to her and handed her the needle. Daisy stuffed the device into a large pocket in her jacket and the needle into an inside pocket that had been meant to hold a gun, back when she needed one. Simmons suddenly hugged her tightly. Daisy returned the gesture, feeling for the first time how much danger she was walking into alone. If this didn't work, Hive would kill her; she was sure of that.

 _If it doesn't work, I hope Ward's_ not _in there,_ she thought, surprising herself. _He shouldn't have to see me die._

Simmons pulled away and quickly turned back to the table, but not before Daisy saw the tears in her eyes. The biochemist was confident in her expertise and in the skills of her partner, but it was written all over her face that she didn't expect to ever see Daisy alive again.

Fitz seemed slightly more positive, but he still hugged her before she left. When they parted, he told her, "May wants to brief you one more time before you go. She's waiting in the hangar."

Daisy gave him a rather watery smile and said, "Okay. I'll see you in a few days."

She left before either of them could respond, though she thought they'd learned enough tact to not actually tell her that this might very well be a suicide mission, even if they couldn't keep it off their faces. She made her way down to the hangar, where she'd left a bag with some extra clothes and toiletries in a nondescript SUV.

She found May leaning against the vehicle. "You wanted to see me?" she asked.

May nodded. "Mostly I was making sure Lincoln wouldn't stow away in your car, but I also wanted to offer some last minute advice."

"Simmons thinks I'm gonna die, so anything you've got to avoid that, I'd love to hear."

May's brow creased briefly before smoothing again. "No, I don't believe Hive will kill you if this goes sideways," she said slowly.

"Why?" Daisy asked.

May shook her head, unwilling to elaborate. "Just a theory. Anyway, my advice is this: don't settle in and wait until you're trusted again. Campbell is right about one thing, that you only need a few seconds to achieve your goal, and the longer you're there, the more chance there is of your being discovered. Just get in, get him alone if you can, assuming you don't want to fight all of his brainwashed Inhumans, and get the job done."

"And then?"

"If it works and Ward is unconscious, cuff him and get him in the back of the car. If he's awake, knock him out. If it doesn't work, get the hell out. You said you'd be in Union City in 48 hours. You now have a little more than 47, and it's a 32-hour drive. No matter how it shakes out, I'll be at the nearest airfield within two hours after you make contact."

Daisy nodded, absorbing May's advice and knowing, despite the other woman's brusque nature, she was here, seeing her off and offering tips gained from years of experience, because she was worried and because she cared. "Okay," she said, "I'll see you in a couple days." She paused, then added, "Listen, if I don't make it back, tell-"

May grabbed her by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "You _will_ be back. You cannot go into this mission believing you're going to die. Hive will see it all over your face. You walk into that town believing you're doing the right thing and that you have found the place where you belong, because you are and you have. Do you understand me?"

Daisy took a deep breath, centering herself and attempting to wipe the fear and anxiety off of her face. "I understand. This will go as planned, and the most I have to worry about is a couple hours in a car with Ward."

The corner of May's mouth twitched in an almost-smile, then she handed Daisy the keys to the SUV. "I'll see you soon, Agent Johnson."


	3. Chapter 3

Last Last Chance

Chapter Three

After nearly two full days in the car, Daisy was feeling surprisingly good. She'd forgotten about how much she loved being on the road by herself. It wasn't always ideal, and nowadays, she preferred to have company, but there was something to be said about being alone with her music blasting at a nearly deafening level. No one to tell her to turn it down. No one to comment on her love for early 2000s pop. No one to judge when she attempted to sing along to Christina Aguilera and failed miserably.

Plus the SUV was a huge step up from her van, though it was also decidedly less homey.

Daisy stopped at a truck stop about an hour outside of Union City for a shower and some lunch. She scrubbed up to the best of her ability in the small space, dressed in mostly clean clothes, then went to the diner. She loved truck stops. They were like miniature cities with everything anyone could need crammed in. This particular stop included four fast food options, a small convenience store, a room full of arcade games, a gym, a salon, and a massage parlor. As a girl who spent a solid chunk of her life living in her van, she could appreciate places like this, probably only slightly less than the truckers it was built for did.

She almost ordered a steak, but talked herself out of it. Steak seemed like a last meal, and she was trying very hard to take May's advice and not walk into Union City believing she would die. Instead she ordered a bacon cheeseburger and fries, like it was a perfectly ordinary day and the fate of the world wasn't resting on her shoulders. At least the burger was good, and as she ate, she repeated the mantra that May had – probably unintentionally – given her.

"I am doing the right thing," she murmured to herself between bites. "I have found the place where I belong."

"What was that, honey?" the waitress asked.

Daisy smiled. "Just a refill on the Diet Coke, please."

A little while later, she finished her food and left a generous tip. Hopefully the waitress would remember the tip instead of the strange girl who talked to herself. She got back in the SUV and checked the pockets of her jacket for the device Fitz had made and the syringe Simmons had given her. Both were still there, leaving her with no excuse to turn around and run for the hills. The time had come, and in 90 minutes, she'd probably either be victorious or dead, unless May was right and Hive chose not to kill her for some reason. That might actually be the worst possible outcome.

She started the car, then chose a soothing, folksy singer for the drive. She needed to be calm more than she needed to be revved up for battle. She tried to concentrate only on getting to Union City and listening to the music so she didn't talk herself into a panic, and she was surprised to find that the miles had disappeared in a blink. She pulled up to a curb in Union City and parked.

Hive was waiting for her when she got out of the car.

"Daisy," he greeted her, "welcome back. You had no issues leaving SHIELD?"

"No. Like I said, they weren't willing to lock me up to keep me with them. All the same, I disabled all the standard tracking devices in both the car and my phone and checked to make sure no extras had been planted on me or in the car. They still know our location because of Lincoln, but they can't know I made a beeline for you. If we decide to move because you don't like them knowing where we are, they won't be able to use anything I brought today to find us."

"They could have had you followed," Hive said.

"No, I was careful. I kept an eye out. I thought there might have been a car tailing me when I first left, but if they were, they weren't great at it. I lost them after a few miles." She surveyed her surroundings. The streets were empty. That would almost certainly change if she attacked now, but on the other hand, she couldn't guarantee she'd have a better opportunity. And she had no clue what would happen to his followers if the plan succeeded.

Hive suddenly shuddered and shook his head, almost like a dog trying to shake off water.

"What is it?" Daisy asked, hoping her voice sounded concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, it's just...Grant Ward is conflicted. And loud. It's usually easy to ignore the voices of my hosts, but he is making it quite difficult at the moment."

"Conflicted?"

"Yes. On the one hand, he's comforted by your proximity. On the other, he'd like you as far away from me as you could get. And he won't stop yelling about either feeling. Odd. He wasn't so vocal when you were here before."

 _Ward knows something is up,_ Daisy thought. _He knows I wouldn't come back except to defeat Hive, and...is he helping? Protecting my mission and me by throwing such a fit in Hive's mind that Hive can't hear him giving away that something is wrong?_ No. That was far too much to hope for, and Daisy had learned her lesson about hoping Ward would come through for her a long time ago.

"Damn," she said, slipping her hand into her pocket. Whether it was a conscious effort or not, Ward was providing a distraction from inside of Hive, and she wasn't going to let the chance that gave her go to waste. "I was hoping he'd be able to find some peace." Her hand closed around Fitz's device, and she felt around for the small button on the side. She positioned her index finger on it. "Oh well, maybe this will help."

She slammed the gadget into the center of Hive's chest and pressed the button, then jumped back a couple of feet to avoid his wrath if it didn't work.

He went rigid, then slumped against the car. The device extended thin metal arms from inside the disk and immediately sliced through his coat and the shirt under it. The arms disappeared inside and, a second later, another pair came out, this time bearing what looked like miniature defibrillator paddles, which quickly found their place on his chest and started shocking his heart.

Then all hell broke loose.

At least a dozen Primitives flooded the street, coming out of three doorways near where she'd parked. Daisy knew that meant that Hive _had_ been suspicious of her, but he hadn't thought she'd act this soon, or that she'd have something that would take him out of the fight. He'd been over-confident and, even more lucky for her, more willing to trust the Primitives, which he had complete control over, than the Inhumans who still had some semblance of will and thoughts of their own.

She sent a concussive blast that knocked three of the closest Primitives into the building behind them. Ten seconds had passed, and Hive was still Hive, his fingers twitching, hands reaching for the device now imbedded into his chest, but the shocks came very quickly, and each one seemed to disrupt his attempts to tear the machine away.

Daisy dug into her pocket for the syringe, but the top had stuck into a crease in her jacket. She wiggled her way out of the jacket and got one arm loose just in time to send another wall of force at the next wave of Primitives. She heard the sounds of several bones breaking as they hit the wall she pushed them into. She also saw one of their necks turned at an angle that definitely killed him, but she couldn't focus on whether she should feel guilt for that yet. Stopping to feel bad about that Primitive would just allow the rest to kill her and probably rescue Hive.

She'd bought herself a few seconds before the next group. She finally shook the jacket off and was able to grab the syringe inside. After checking that she still had time, she knelt down next to Hive, hoping the shocks that were somehow keeping him from reaching for the device would also keep him from reaching for _her._ She saw him try and fail, his eyes burning with hatred that he couldn't express. She jabbed the needle into his neck and pushed the plunger, then rose to face the next opponent.

She couldn't imagine what this guy had looked like before he'd been transformed into a Primitive, but she imagined he had been intimidating even then, since he stood at about 6'6" and was barreling toward her at full speed. At the last second, she manipulated the air in front of him, hardening it into an invisible wall, which he ran into, knocking him back several feet. He didn't get up again.

Daisy looked at Hive again, hoping she'd see Ward instead. Somehow, she knew she would know the difference. They may have the same face, and Ward didn't exactly have goodness shining out of him as a telltale sign, but she would know. For one, Ward had never looked at her with the kind of hate and rage still shining out of Hive's eyes.

This was taking longer than she had hoped, and she worried about just how much power that disk had contained. How long could it keep shocking his heart? What if it ran out before it was done? She had followed the few steps of the plan, but it was still Hive there. She would have to take a more active role in reviving Ward.

That wouldn't be a problem, except for the Primitives. Several of those she'd knocked down hadn't gotten back up, but their numbers had been replenished by new arrivals. She didn't know how many he'd managed to make with his supply of her blood, and she couldn't fight all of them _and_ bring Ward back.

A crazy thought occurred to her, probably fueled by adrenaline and too much truck stop food. She suddenly remembered a boy at one of her many foster homes laughing as he tried to pat his head and rub his stomach at the same time. He could manage for maybe five seconds before he got mixed up and ended up rubbing both. _Everyone_ screwed up that challenge eventually. It was just a matter of how long. Daisy, or Mary Sue Poots, as she'd been called at the time, could go for closer to fifteen seconds.

She'd jumpstarted Lincoln's heart once, when she had a much less firm grasp of her powers. She could do this. One hand, her left, could be dedicated to giving Ward's heart the squeeze it needed, along with the electricity, to make it remember how to beat. Her right hand could throw off the Primitives as they came. She couldn't do it forever, not without risking the signals getting crossed and accidentally sending a blast of force at Hive. That could be catastrophic, possibly dislodging or breaking the device, or even killing him and sending him to the next dead body.

But she could do it for fifteen seconds.

Daisy concentrated on her own heartbeat, hoping to use it to time the psychic CPR she was about to perform. It was elevated, which was to be expected in the heat of battle, but it would have to do. She extended her left hand in Hive's direction and her right out in front of her, blasting back two Primitives that had gotten close while she'd been thinking her way through. She gritted her teeth and used her powers to locate the specific vibration of his heart, vibrating at its own frequency even when it was still, and flexed her left hand slightly, as if she was squeezing his heart and forcing it to beat.

She looked back in the other direction, where the Primitives kept coming from. None of them were too close yet, but she knocked back the closest anyway. If this didn't work, she'd need another few seconds without interruption.

At six seconds into the fifteen she was allowing herself, a sound came from behind her, near Hive. She whipped around, trying to keep the rhythm of her left hand steady. A Primitive was leaning over Hive, reaching for the device. She brought her right hand around and...flexed instead of blasting him. She realized her mistake right away, but it was only because the creature wasn't human and was processing Hive's will through its damaged brain that she was fast enough to correct herself. She carefully aimed at the creature's head, making sure that the wave got nowhere near Hive. The force she hit him with snapped his neck and sent him flying back ten feet. Then she turned back to the Primitives just in time to see them all fall to the ground.

It was eleven seconds in, and she felt the change in the vibration of Ward's heart. She kept pumping, just with slightly less force, until the silver disk attached to his chest drew its arms back into itself and dropped to the ground, leaving a little blood behind on his chest where it had dug itself in. She finally stopped and hesitantly looked up into his eyes, not believing until she saw them that she had miraculously pulled off a resurrection.

She had been right. She looked into Ward's eyes and _knew_ without a doubt, that Ward was in control again. He was back, and it took her several long seconds to raise her hands again, this time in defense against her old S.O. She didn't believe for a moment Ward would hurt her, not physically, but she also didn't know what kind of condition he'd be in. She'd be crazy if she'd spent weeks locked in the head of a monster. And he'd been a far cry from sane _before_ his most recent issues.

Ward looked around wildly before settling his gaze on her. His eyes clouded with confusion, and he managed one word. "Skye?" Then he slumped back against her SUV, unconscious.


	4. Chapter 4

Last Last Chance

Chapter Four

The first thing Daisy did was cuff Ward's hands in front of him, even though she knew that was probably futile. If Grant Ward wanted out of handcuffs, she was pretty sure he could make it happen. She'd have to rely on her powers to contain him if it came to that, but she really hoped it wouldn't. She was tired from her time on the road and restless sleep, not to mention the fight with the Primitives. Her power wasn't without its limits, and she was worried that she might be getting close to them.

She hit her first obstacle when she was trying to get him into the backseat of the SUV. Ward was roughly 170 pounds of dead weight, and her attempts to maneuver him into the vehicle were failing so miserably she felt like they deserved a laugh track. For the first time, she wished Lincoln _had_ come along, like he'd volunteered to, if only so she'd have help getting Ward situated, preferably before the Primitives awoke or the other Inhumans made an appearance.

"And May thought the best approach would be for you to be unconscious for this part," Daisy muttered. "I wonder how she would do it." She gave up for a moment to scoop the gadget Fitz had made up off the ground and put it back in her pocket. She didn't want to forget it while she puzzled out how to move Ward.

Finally she crouched down in front of him and put his cuffed hands around her neck, dragging him up with her as she stood and using her body to brace him against the car. She knew it was a compromising position in so many ways, not least of which was that he probably knew sixteen different ways to kill her from where he was. But the other option was taking even longer in Union City and risking the unknown there.

Ward woke up to find himself mostly upright, pressed between the car and the woman who'd resurrected him. "What...?" he rasped out, stopping after the single word hurt his throat. When was the last time he'd had any water? Did Hive even need water?

Daisy jumped, jostling him, and then tore herself away from him, ducking under his arms to do so. He dropped back to the ground, jarring him slightly more awake.

"Great. You're awake. Get in the car."

Ward looked at her, confused. "How...?" he started.

"By standing up and scooting your ass onto the seat behind you." She stopped, considering. Did she really want him behind her in the backseat? The SUV wasn't designed for prisoner transport. It might be better to have him in the front, where she could see him if he made a move. "Actually, no, get in the front seat. Just a few extra steps."

He shook his head, not in refusal of her orders, since he _was_ struggling to stand up, but telling her she had misunderstood his question. He needed something to drink if he was going to manage more than one word at a time, so when he got to his feet, he asked, "Water?"

Keeping one eye on him, Daisy went to the back of the SUV and opened it up, revealing an ice chest. The ice had mostly melted since the day before, when she'd bought it, but the contents were still cold. She pulled out a bottle of water and showed it to him. "All yours once you're in the car," she offered, closing the back door.

Ward turned toward her and started walking slowly, keeping one hand on the SUV like a child learning to walk, or a drunk in need of balance. Each time he took a step, she took one backwards, all the way around the car until she reached the front passenger door, which she opened for him. As he approached the door, she kept one hand up, ready to defend herself if she had to.

She didn't. He sat in the seat and even managed to buckle his seat belt before she handed him the bottle of water. She flipped the small switch inside the door that turned on the child-lock. She doubted it would do a lot of good if he was trying to escape, but it made her feel a bit better, knowing he couldn't open his door from the inside. She closed his door and went around to get into the driver's seat.

Ward started to say something, but Daisy held up a finger to stall him while she rooted around in the center console for her phone. When she found it and her bluetooth, she hooked the latter onto her ear and called May. While the phone rang, she started the car and began to head out of town. She wasn't sure where she was going yet, or where the best place to meet May and the quinjet would be, but she wanted out of Union City.

May picked up . "Daisy? How did it go?"

"Successful with just a few hurdles. Ward is alive and in the car. If you give me coordinates to head to, I can do that, but I want to stay on the move until you can get us. Union City...it's spooky, May. All the Primitives fell either unconscious or dead as soon as Ward's heart started beating, and I felt like it would endanger the mission to check, so you might want to send some people to the town to figure out what's happening there. Tell them to be on the lookout for the other Inhumans Hive had under his sway too. I have no idea what they'll be like now."

"Has Ward given you any trouble?" May asked.

Daisy glanced at Ward, then back to the road. He was looking straight ahead, sipping his water and seemingly lost in his own thoughts. "Only when I was trying to get him into the car before he woke up. Somehow we never covered how to do that alone in my training."

"So he's awake?"

"Yes."

"And you're not going to knock him out again." May said it as a statement, likely because she already knew the answer.

Daisy was quiet for a moment, then said, "What we were doing before, May...right after SHIELD fell...that's not a viable long-term solution anymore." She hoped May could hear what she was getting at. She didn't want to bring up his time in Vault D right in front of him at the moment, especially since he _would_ be heading back there, at least to start. Tipping him off to that fact might make the next two hours of her life much more difficult.

Somewhat to Daisy's surprise, May both understood and agreed with her. "The suicide attempts alone could be catastrophic. He'll have to be locked up, of course, but the circumstances of that will need to be different. He'll either need a guard in the room at all times, around the clock, or he'll need to be given certain freedoms to make him want to live more than he wants to die."

"Can you try to convince Coulson of that?" That was the next challenge, assuming she successfully managed to meet up with May. Coulson had gotten much less forgiving in the time she'd known him, and it worried her.

"Maybe, but not right now. Right now, I have to come pick you up. I'll find somewhere a couple hours outside Union City and text you the coordinates. For now, head north, and I'll try to find something in that direction."

"You got it," Daisy replied, speeding up to get out of Union City, now that she at least had a direction, if not a destination.

"Great. See you in a couple hours." May hung up, and Daisy removed the bluetooth from her ear. She waited for Ward to start peppering her with questions, but he was quiet for almost fifteen minutes.

It was her who finally broke the silence by asking, "You still in there?"

Ward gave her a haunted look and replied, "I was always in here."

She didn't know what to say. She wanted to tell him she was sorry, even though it wasn't her fault, and anyway, hadn't his remaining presence inside Hive been what allowed her to save the world from the creature? While she thought, she turned on to a highway headed north. Then she said, "No one deserves that. I can't even imagine what that must have been like."

"Good," Ward said. "You don't imagine it and I won't talk about it. Not yet. Maybe not ever." He took a long sip of his water. "Why did you bring me back?" he asked suddenly.

Daisy was saved from having to answer right away by the chime of her phone. May had texted her coordinates, and she put them into the GPS on her phone. It didn't work at first, and she remembered that she had shut down her GPS on the drive to Union City. She reactivated it, and directions popped up. They were headed to a small airstrip just over the border into Montana, almost two hours away.

"If you were always in there, then you know what Hive was planning. We brought you back in the hope that he would be trapped inside you, unable to jump to the nearest dead body. Looks like it worked. Now we get to deal with you instead of Hive, and you're a much more manageable threat."

Ward nodded, accepting that without further comment.

She was handling this all wrong, and she knew it. After Coulson had come back from Maveth with news of Ward's death, she had smiled and congratulated him on taking out such a big threat. Then she had withdrawn to her bunk and quietly mourned, not necessarily for the man he was, but the man he could have been, and not just before he turned out to be Hydra. It was only after Coulson killed him that she really started to wonder if he could have been saved if they'd given him a chance after Garrett's death.

Daisy felt like she was hardwired now to respond harshly to Ward, not least of all because he had earned it. But if there was ever a time to show the man some compassion, it was now. So she quietly added, "And like I said before, no one deserves that. Being trapped inside your own head forever, without even death as an escape...I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

"So he's still inside me. Still alive?" Ward asked.

"FitzSimmons thinks that's the way it'll happen. That he'll eventually break down and...I don't know if 'die' is even the right word, but that he'll stop existing after long enough stuck in a human host. We just don't know how long." She wasn't sure how much information she should be giving him, but she felt like he had a right to know what was happening inside his own body.

He nodded again. "Okay, that's comforting, actually."

Daisy looked at him for a second, trying to figure out how he could possibly be comforted by that. "It's comforting to know you have a monster from thousands of years ago indefinitely trapped inside your body? _How_ is that comforting?"

"Because he's been yelling for the past twenty minutes, and if he's still in here, then it's probably not just me going crazy."

She gripped the steering wheel hard, and it was all she could do to keep the vehicle in the right lane and going at the right speed limit. Her first instinct had been to slam on the brakes, regardless of whatever traffic might have been behind her. FitzSimmons had said there would probably be side effects, and they would be numerous and unpredictable, but this was crazy. She had never imagined that Hive would still be a conscious presence that could communicate, even if only with Ward. "He's yelling? What is he saying?"

Ward winced and shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I'm not going to do what he's telling me to do. _Not ever."_ He enunciated the last two words in a way that made her think he was probably directing them at Hive. "At least the others are free."

"What do you mean?" Daisy asked.

"Every other body he's ever taken. They were all still inside him. We couldn't talk to each other or anything, but there was an...awareness. I knew they were there, and I knew who they were. The older ones had all gone insane, so I couldn't get a sense of their names or who they'd been before Hive. But there were a few that were still all there. Nathaniel Malick and Will Daniels are the names you'd know."

"And they're gone now? They've...moved on?" Daisy had had no idea Hive could hold on to people for so long, even after abandoning their bodies for decades or even centuries. Everyone was so afraid of death, but Ward was living proof that there were things that were so much worse than death.

"Yes. It's just Hive inside, I think. That's one of the reasons he's yelling. He's so much smaller than he was."

"Simmons will be...well, she won't be happy to hear that, but I think she'll find some comfort in it. She cared about Will Daniels." She switched the subject abruptly, no longer wanting to think about the people who had been trapped inside Hive. "You haven't asked what's going to happen next."

Ward almost smiled, and Daisy felt a pang for the past, when she would have done almost anything to get a smile out of her uptight S.O. "We're going to meet May and a quinjet, and we'll be going to the Playground. I'm going back to Vault D, where I will be closely watched and frequently visited by doctors of all kinds. I'll be on constant suicide watch because, just a guess, if I die, Hive takes the reins again. Once he's died, or whatever a creature like him does, my own existence will be re-evaluated and SHIELD will have to decide what to do with me. Maybe Coulson will even kill me again."

"That's _not_ going to happen," Daisy said, surprising both Ward and herself with her vehemence. "I mean, the rest of it, about going back to the Playground and Vault D, yeah, that's the plan, and I'm definitely curious as to why you seem so okay with all that. But, assuming you behave, you will not be killed, and you will not be traded."

"Skye..." Ward started.

"It's Daisy," she interrupted. "I go by Daisy now. Daisy Johnson." She hoped he got the hint. She didn't want to talk about the name change, and she _definitely_ didn't want to talk about the promise she'd just made him. She didn't have the authority to make such promises, and she'd be hearing about it from Coulson if Ward made this conversation known to others.

Sensing her mood, Ward answered another question instead of pushing the subject or even acknowledging her new name. "I'm not fighting you on locking me up because I want Hive dead too. If I die, he can come back, and whether I like it or not, I'm probably safest in SHIELD's care, at least until Hive is out of me. And even if I spend the rest of my life in Vault D, it's still an upgrade from where I was before."

Daisy nodded, taking in his perspective. He sounded like he meant it, and everything he said made sense. She didn't let her guard down entirely, but she did relax it a little, and they traveled in almost companionable silence for a few miles.

"How did the team figure out how to contain Hive?" Ward asked, making her jump a little. He was so still and so quiet that she'd started to get used to it.

"FitzSimmons," she said simply, offering no further information.

Ward took a deep breath, then let it out. "Skye-"

"Daisy!" she snapped.

" _Skye,_ Hive is still screaming in my head. Please just tell me all about the brilliance of the Science Twins so I have something to concentrate on aside from Hive encouraging me to ram my head through the glass of this window." The words came out quietly, almost in a monotone, except for her old name, which Ward was apparently not going to be letting go of anytime soon.

She sighed. They still had over an hour to go before they would reach May, and she wasn't a big fan of silence anyway. If she believed in his willingness to go into SHIELD's custody, and she did, there really wasn't any harm in talking to him. She just had to keep reminding herself that this man was a far cry from the one she'd known before the fall of SHIELD, and that meant she couldn't reveal truly privileged information.

"Okay," Daisy agreed. "So frankly, it's a freaking miracle this all actually worked, because it was all theoretical..."

The drive to the airstrip went a lot quicker after that.


	5. Chapter 5

Last Last Chance

Chapter Five

Their conversation dwindled as they got closer to their destination, and Ward instinctively tensed up as they passed through the gate to the Montana airstrip where they'd be meeting May. Skye – who inexplicably insisted on calling herself Daisy, though she would always be Skye to him – noticed the change in his mood immediately.

"You're not gonna make this hard on me, are you? You've been surprisingly pleasant so far."

Ward shook his head. "I'll behave myself if May does. For once, we both want the same thing, more or less."

 _You don't want to go into that cage,_ Hive whispered in his mind. He seemed to have exhausted himself with the yelling, so now it was more quiet, at least, but he still wouldn't just shut up and let Ward have some peace. _You'll never leave. You'll die there, and it won't be long from now._

"No, she promised," Ward said, realizing too late that he'd spoken aloud. Skye was giving him a strange look. "Sorry," he told her. "Just arguing with the voice in my head. I'll try to keep it down."

Her brow creased in worry. Over him? No, couldn't be. Probably over him going crazy and whether she'd have to fight him. "It's okay," she said. "If talking back to him helps, I'm not judging. It's, um...it's just his voice though, right? No hallucinations or anything you might try to stab or something?"

"Just his voice," he reassured her. "Which sounds disturbingly like my own, but I can tell the difference."

"Promise me you'll keep the doctors informed of any other side effects?" Skye asked.

"So long as I'm able," he agreed. "I don't want to lie to you, so I can't promise for certain. There may be a side effect that prevents me from seeing it through. So...so long as I'm able."

 _What will you tell the doctors when I make you bite your tongue off in your sleep?_ Hive wondered. _What will you tell_ her _when your hands wrap around her throat and you're helpless to stop me?_

 _One of the many reasons I'm letting them lock me up,_ Ward thought back at the entity in his head. _I may never be free of SHIELD, but you_ definitely _won't. I won't let you hurt anyone else._

 _Not even the man who killed you?_

"We're here," Skye said, interrupting the silent conversation before Ward could think of a reply. She stopped the car and put it in park. Ward looked up and saw May waiting outside a quinjet, along with five other agents he didn't know.

"I thought it would just be May?" he asked, already tensing for a fight. If things really were the way Skye had painted them, he would go along without a problem, but five new people were something that hadn't been mentioned as part of the plan.

Skye put a hand on his arm, stilling him and bringing his focus back to her. "It's okay. I know them. They'll take the car so we don't leave it here, and they'll go back to Union City and investigate what's happening there. I can make them stay back if you're worried about them."

Ward looked into her eyes. She might be the only person on the planet he trusted, despite everything, and he could tell she really believed what she was telling him. "Okay. Let's do this." He pulled on the handle to let him out of the car, and nothing happened. The car had automatically unlocked when she put it into park, but his door wouldn't open, which could only mean one thing. He looked back at her, one eyebrow raised. "Child lock? Really?"

She shrugged. "Hey, how was I supposed to know you'd be so cooperative? I need every advantage I can get." She got out of the car and went around to his side to open the door for him. He saw her flip the switch back into the original position, probably so the next group using the SUV wouldn't be stuck inside.

 _You're a lovesick weakling, and that's not enough of an advantage for her?_ Hive asked. Ward ignored him, focusing on Skye instead as he got out of the car. She stayed a couple feet away, clearly ready to stop him if he chose to run, but slightly more relaxed than she'd been when he first came back to himself in Union City. He'd convinced her that, at the very least, he wouldn't attack her, and that was a step in the right direction.

As he closed the door behind him, she grabbed a duffel bag from the back of the car and looked in the windows to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything vital, but always kept one eye on him. It didn't bother him. It was what he would do in her place, and it showed that she had been trained well. When she was done with her inspection, she took him by the arm and led him toward the quinjet and May. She signaled the other woman when they were about twenty feet away from her, and May nodded and sent the investigative team back toward the SUV. They gave Ward and Skye a wide berth, probably on May's instructions, except for the one who looked like the leader of the group. He approached them and stopped a few feet away, and Skye tossed him the keys to the SUV, then urged Ward toward the quinjet again. He kept an eye on the team behind them. Skye clearly trusted them, but he knew that he would have no friends left in SHIELD, and he doubted the entire organization had been briefed on how bad it would be for the world if he died again.

His worries were unfounded though, and they reached May without any issues. In her most neutral tone, she acknowledged him. "Ward."

"May," he replied in the same tone.

 _She'll be the one Coulson sends to kill you. He likes to think of himself as the good guy, so he can't do it twice. But May has been wanting to kill you for years. He'll send her because she'll enjoy it._

"Shut up," he growled at the voice in his head.

May raised an eyebrow, but Skye shook her head, pulling him toward the entrance to the quinjet. "Don't ask. I'll explain later. Let's just get back to the Playground, and the sooner the better. I'd really like to have FitzSimmons take a look at him. Along with every other doctor we've got."

Skye led Ward onto the plane, and he asked, "Is there food? I just realized I'm starving. Hive didn't eat...food."

Skye looked at May, and May rolled her eyes and tossed her a protein bar, which Skye then handed to Ward. May shut the hatch and began to prepare for takeoff, while Skye buckled him into one of the seats in the back, being careful not to tangle his cuffs in with the safety belt. She took the seat next to him, most likely, he told himself, to stop him in case he did anything stupid while they were in the air.

He unwrapped the protein bar, taking in the interior of the quinjet, trying to spot any updates, but also trying to keep Skye in his line of sight without being too obvious about it. He knew allowing himself to be taken by SHIELD was likely just a really drawn out and painful method of committing suicide, but she kept him calm. There was no hope for his life to end well; he'd always known that. But she could sometimes make him think he saw a glimmer of hope in the darkness, and that had always been a welcome break from the certainty that things would always end badly.

 _You want her,_ Hive snarled. _You've always wanted her, and if you'd let me free, you could finally_ have _her. You would still be there, inside me, fully aware, like before, and she would come willingly._

"NO!" Ward shouted, his voice echoing off the walls. May was on her feet and facing them again so fast that he hadn't even seen her move. She had an ICER pointed at him. He didn't even want to look at Skye, both because he knew he had probably just broken the tentative camaraderie between them and because of what Hive had just threatened to do.

To his surprise, Skye remained seated next to him, one hand extended toward May while the other laid a hand on his shoulder. "Everybody calm down," she pleaded, though he got the impression the request was mostly directed at May. "Hive is taking his containment badly, and he's talking in Ward's head." She turned her attention to him. "Right?"

He nodded, holding May's steely gaze with his own. "Right. I was yelling at him because he suggested something..." Ward trailed off, knowing it would be apocalyptic if the two women in the enclosed space with him knew exactly what Hive had suggested. "I intend to cooperate with you. Right now, I want me locked up probably even more than you do."

May considered him for several long seconds, then silently put the ICER back in its holster and sat down again in the pilot's seat.

Before Ward could look at Skye again, he had to address Hive. No matter how many times the monster might suggest such a thing, it would never work. But Ward never wanted to even hear the idea again, so he wanted to make it clear to Hive that he was wasting his energy with that proposition. _No. Not like that. Not ever. Also, you're bluffing. You don't have that power over her anymore, we both know that, and I've never been more thankful for that than now._

The quinjet rose into the air, and they were off. After a few minutes, Ward bumped his leg against Skye's to get her attention. It was so easy, so familiar, that it took him a second to remember that such a gesture wouldn't be appreciated. Still, she turned to him, and she didn't look like she was about to punch him. She seemed to be giving him a pass for the day, but he thought it was far more likely that she was just being kind because she knew it would be a lot easier to get him into confinement if she was.

Still, he'd take whatever she was willing to give. He gave her a look, trying to communicate without words what he needed. Everyone on the team knew that Skye _had_ been a weakness, but that was a long time ago. It wouldn't hurt if they doubted that now, for both his sake and hers. If he asked for what he needed, May would hear, and that would get back to Coulson. Better to hope Skye understood.

She did, so quickly that it almost shocked him. She'd always been intuitive, but he'd been prepared to have to try harder, given their time away from each other and on opposite sides. She nodded, then struck up a conversation with May.

"Hey, so how are things going at SHIELD?" Skye asked, glancing at him to make sure that she had interpreted his needs correctly. He needed them talking to distract him from Hive. She'd gotten it right, and he gave her a grateful smile.

"Simmons cried in relief when I told them that you were successful in your mission," May informed her. "You were right before. She _definitely_ thought you were going to die. Fitz has been experimenting with another version of the device he gave you, hoping to find other applications for it. And Campbell has been sulking in his bunk for two days, though he did at least emerge when he got news that you're alive. Last I checked, he's moved his sulking to the common areas."

Skye's face fell, and Ward hated this Campbell person instantly for giving her that defeated look. Still, she soldiered on, continuing the conversation even though he could tell she'd rather just think it over in silence. He wanted to tell her to put her own needs over his, even if it was about her idiot boyfriend, but he was too selfish for that. Plus he wanted to hear what May had to say about the man.

"I thought he'd be less pissed once things turned out okay," Skye sighed.

"I think he would have preferred you were taken hostage so he could run a rescue mission and be your hero. Nevermind that it's far better for the world that it worked out this way."

Skye started to say something, stopped, then started and stopped again before she committed to asking May, "You don't like him, do you?"

May looked back at Skye in disbelief, flashing her eyes toward Ward as well before turning back to the controls in front of her. "Just to be perfectly clear, you want me to give my personal opinion of your boyfriend right now? You want to have _girl talk_ in front of Grant Ward."

 _She's got a boyfriend,_ Hive sneered. _You should rip out his entrails and eat them in front of her._ Ward could still hear him, but he was far easier to ignore now that there was a conversation going on. He had a feeling that the two women could have been discussing nail polish and it would still work.

Skye laughed. "No. Girl talk is what I do with Simmons in our pajamas. I'm asking you, as my mentor, the reasoning behind the disapproving looks and the snide comments that you think no one else can see or hear."

May fell quiet for a moment, considering her words carefully. "I believe Campbell has the potential to be a good agent. Maybe not great, probably not qualified to be traveling with us, with the missions we take on. But I would trust him to be in Union City right now, watching the backs of the other agents there and trying to ascertain what happened to the Primitives. As a person, and as an agent, I have no problems with him. However, as your boyfriend _and_ an agent, there's a conflict of interest that cannot be ignored. I've seen agents who are partners and who are romantically involved. It's rare, but it _can_ work. It's not impossible. But he's proven that he will always put you above not only his own health, which is understandable, but the mission too. In the work we do, that kind of thinking can get a lot more than just the two of you killed."

"Thank you, May," Skye said seriously. "I'll think about what you said." 

Ward remained quiet, also taking May's uncharacteristically long speech into consideration. On the one hand, Skye deserved a guy who would put her first. He would have put her ahead of the rest of the world too, but he hadn't been able to put her before his loyalty to Garrett, a fact he would always regret. On the other hand, she wouldn't want the world to suffer because someone judged her safety more important. He wondered if there was really a middle ground to be reached there.

May offered nothing further, having seemingly used up her hourly allotment of words, and Hive started to get louder again. Ward knew he would have to learn how to deal with Hive on his own. Skye was the only one he trusted to know how much he needed a distraction, and he'd probably never see her again once they locked him in Vault D. He wouldn't beg the guards or the doctors or even FitzSimmons to talk to him, or to each other. He knew all that, but he couldn't help but shoot a panicked look at Skye when Hive started talking about her again.

"Hey, I have a question," Skye said.

He would answer anything she asked so long as it meant she would keep talking to him. He didn't say that; she would not take that well. He simply nodded for her to continue.

"Hive said you were yelling about me being there. It drew his attention for long enough to give me an opportunity to take him down. Did you do that on purpose?"

"Not at first," he answered honestly. "At first it was just my gut reaction. It was confusing, being trapped in there. I still had my full range of emotions, but absolutely nothing I could do about anything, so when I had conflicting emotions about _anything,_ it was hell. One emotion and nothing I could do about it, I could tolerate, but two at the same time was a nightmare. And with you...he would have killed you, Skye. He was _going_ to, because he needed your blood, all of it, to make more Primitives. So I was screaming at him about that and screaming at you to get away, but I was also..."

Ward stopped himself, afraid to tell her the rest. He'd been comforted by her presence too. He always had been, even back on the Bus. He'd wished he could go to _her,_ not May, after the incident with the Berserker staff, so she could have soothed away the painful memories the staff had dredged up. Hive had known about Skye's effect on him; that was why he had chosen _her_ as his sleeper agent instead of any of the other Inhumans on Coulson's team. Hive had considered it a kindness to Ward, and until Skye had offered up her blood and her life, it had been. He skipped over all that and continued with the part she wanted to hear about.

"I knew you were coming back to take him out, though I didn't know how you would do it. Hive wasn't always listening to every thought I had, but he could tune in at any time, so I spent the two days from the time you called thinking about _anything else._ Mostly translating whatever I had memorized – anything, songs, speeches, poems, whatever – into other languages. Anything to not think about what you were coming to Union City to do, just in case he decided to listen in. Then you got there and I _couldn't_ not think about you because you were _right in front of me._ So I started yelling instead, hoping it would keep my real thoughts hidden if the ones I wanted him to hear were louder. Once I realized it was distracting him, I turned up the volume, hoping it would give you a chance to either run or do whatever it was you needed to do."

Ward had shocked himself. He'd nudged her to try to get her talking, but instead, he'd ended up doing most of the talking himself, and Hive had remained quiet, probably because he wanted to know how he'd been foiled.

Skye met his eyes for a moment, bit her lip, and looked away. "So he did help me," she murmured to herself. He didn't respond. The comment hadn't been meant for him. When she turned back, the wistful look she'd graced him with before was gone. "Changing the subject," she said abruptly, "I'm going to talk to Coulson about making a few changes to Vault D. You will be our prisoner, but you're also doing us a favor by containing Hive, so I'm gonna push for a few allowances. Name the top three things we could put in Vault D that would dissuade you from attempting suicide."

She blushed furiously as she said it, and Ward grimaced. This had to be one of the most awkward conversations of his life. His time in Vault D had been, in many ways, one of the lowest periods of his life. In other ways, it had offered him clarity and helped him come to terms with what John Garrett had made of him. And he knew Skye could not have been having an easy time bringing up his suicide attempts. "I'm not going to try to kill myself again. I won't unleash Hive on the world if I can help it. No allowances are needed."

She frowned, and he kicked himself. _Imbecile,_ Hive jeered. "Come on," she said. "You've got to want _something."_

He _did_ want something. He wanted her to promise to visit him every so often, not only to help him drown out Hive's voice, but because he enjoyed her company. Even if she hated him. He wouldn't ask for that though. She'd say no, as she probably should, and it would taint the last couple of hours he had with her before being locked away.

But if it would make her feel better to have something done to Vault D, he could come up with a few suggestions. "Books, maybe? Or a TV?"

"I could probably talk Coulson into both of those," she said, her face brightening. "Anything else?"

Ward searched his mind and realized there _was_ something he wanted done to the vault. "You know that feature of the vault that let's you cut off all sight and sound from the outside of the cell?"

"The inertial confinement laser barrier?"

"Yeah. Disable it. Or at least tell whoever's down there not to activate it unless they really have to." Off her questioning look, he continued, lowering his voice in the hope that May wouldn't hear him. "The same effect can be achieved by just leaving the room, which is small enough without making it look smaller. I'm already going to be trapped alone in there with Hive. Cutting off sight and sound..." He sighed. "Look, I know you hate me and I know I deserve it, but you asked what I wanted, and that's the only thing."

Skye seemed lost in thought for a minute, then came to her decision. "Okay, I'll talk to Coulson and do my best."

"I'll back you," May added from the cockpit. He should have known he couldn't speak low enough for her to miss it. The woman had ears like a bat.

After that, Skye produced a small notepad from one of her pockets and asked him to start listing his favorite books, or books he'd like to read. Time passed quickly as he searched his mind for every book he'd always wanted to read but never had the time for. She gave her opinions on some of his choices, which kept Hive at bay, and before he knew it, they were back at the Playground.

It was surreal, like he was going through his exit, when he'd been traded to Christian, but in reverse and in slow motion. Skye was at his side as they walked in, murmuring something to him, but he couldn't hear her. Hive was in a screaming, panicked rage, and while Skye had thus far been able to help Ward block him out, now the best she could do was keep him walking forward, despite the cacophony in his head that made him want to cover his ears and scream until the only thing he could hear was himself.

 _STOP THIS YOU CAN STOP THIS LET ME OUT KILL THEM KILL THEM ALL THEY'RE NOTHING YOU'RE NOTHING YOU WILL DIE IN THAT CELL THEY WILL KILL YOU AGAIN YOU WORTHLESS WEAKLING LETMEOUTLETMEOUTLETMEOUTLETME-_

"We're here," Skye said quietly.

Ward looked around, surprised to find himself back in Vault D, with only a step between him and the other side of the invisible barrier. Skye was next to him, waiting with the key to his cuffs, and May was blocking the door, ICER in hand and aimed at him. He stepped over the yellow line that marked the area he'd probably spend the rest of his life in, and held out his hands. Skye silently unlocked his cuffs, then picked up the tablet from the chair behind her. She met his eyes one more time, then raised the barrier. Nodding to herself, she started to leave.

Ward put his hand up to the barrier, meeting the expected resistance and appearance of the grid pattern that contained him. "Skye..." he started, unsure of what he intended to say, only knowing that he didn't want her to leave yet.

She turned back to him, one side of her mouth raising in a half-smile. "It's Daisy," she corrected. Then she left with May, shutting the door to the vault behind them.


	6. Chapter 6

Last Last Chance

Chapter Six

Daisy shut the door to Vault D behind her and trailed after May. She'd only gone a few steps before she realized she was shaking. Not enough for May to notice, or at least not enough for her to comment, but the shakes could become tremors if she didn't get her emotions under control.

"Hey, can I meet you up in Coulson's office in 20 minutes or so? I want to stop and see FitzSimmons and get them examining Ward ASAP."

May agreed, and they parted ways at the elevator, where Daisy claimed she'd rather take the stairs. It wasn't a complete lie. She ducked into the stairwell and collapsed against the wall, away from the gazes of those who would question her emotions regarding what she'd just done.

Ward deserved to be in that vault more than anyone, she reminded herself. He'd done awful things, including torturing one of her best friends just a few months ago. In fact, that had been one of his last acts before he'd been killed. Even if he wasn't enough of a monster, Hive certainly was, making Vault D the imperfect but only solution to their problems. She knew all of that.

She had still hated locking him away and hated herself for feeling that way.

After admitting that ugly truth to herself, the shaking subsided, and she headed up the stairs to the lab, wondering how the hell she was going to get through a conversation with her friends without them knowing everything she wanted to deny to herself.

As she walked, Daisy replayed the day in her head. She had decided to treat Ward with kid gloves for a couple of reasons, partially that he would be much easier to manage if she wasn't snarling at him the whole journey, but mostly because she felt like it was the decent thing to do. She tried not to kick people when they were down. But she hadn't anticipated how letting down a few of her barriers would affect _her._ She would be much happier if she didn't know how easy it was to talk with him or how much she wanted to ease his pain. Now she was aching for simpler times, and she couldn't seem to make herself stop.

Daisy was knocked backward and out of her ruminations the moment she entered the lab by a very enthusiastic hug from Simmons, who stepped back after a few seconds to give her a quick once-over, checking for any obvious injuries that might need treatment. Finding none, she smiled brightly. "I'm so glad you've returned. I didn't want to say anything before you left, but I was quite worried."

Daisy smiled. "Hate to tell you, Simmons, but you weren't nearly as subtle as you think. You had me half convinced I was gonna die."

"But you didn't!" Fitz reassured them both, rising from his workbench to give Daisy a much more reserved hug than Simmons had. "My device worked?"

"More or less," Daisy answered, taking it out of her pocket and handing it back to him. She relayed the story of Hive's last moments in control of Ward's body, including that the device had done what he'd said it would, but had needed some extra effort from her powers to actually get the job done.

"And now Ward is back in our basement," Simmons sighed once Daisy had finished catching them up.

"Yes, and I'd like both of you down there as soon as possible to run every test you've got on him. We need to make sure Hive can't take control again, and if there's a way to speed up Hive's death, I want to know about it. Also, Ward needs to start talking to the best psychologist on staff, on a daily basis if that can be managed."

Simmons had pulled out a tablet as Daisy was speaking, and she was typing in ideas and notes as they occurred to her. "A psychologist?" she asked doubtfully.

"Ward tried to kill himself last time he was in Vault D, more than once. Now he's back there, only this time, he has an ancient immortal in his head that no one else can hear, and from what time I've spent with him, I can tell you that Hive is not a great companion. Ward needs to be speaking to someone as soon as possible to find coping mechanisms for what is happening to him."

All of that was absolutely true, but it wasn't the whole truth. For one, she believed him when he said he didn't intend to harm himself. But what she didn't want to tell them was that he should have had regular visits from a psychologist the first time they'd had him down there, but they were all so wrapped up in their rage and betrayal, her most of all, that no one thought of that at the time. It was probably far too little, too late, but she'd never forgive herself if she didn't at least try.

"Hive is still a conscious presence? Fascinating," Simmons said, passing the tablet to Fitz as she started to gather what supplies she might need for their trip down to the vault.

"Horrifying," Daisy corrected her.

"Anything else?" Fitz asked, only half paying attention as he read over the notes Simmons had taken.

Daisy sighed, steeling herself for the reaction she was bound to get. "You're gonna think I'm crazy, but I'm trying to make things not so awful down there for him." She had considered not telling them at all, but they would notice the changes to the vault as they happened, so she wanted to prepare them now, instead of having to explain later.

"I can't imagine why," Simmons said, her voice hard.

"Because just being alone with himself is hell with Hive in his head, and that's _still_ an improvement over when it was him that was trapped. We can't contain Hive; the only person who can is Ward, and he does that by surviving and staying sane. Or at least what passes for sane with him. I'd say that at least deserves TV privileges."

"I can't argue with that," Fitz said, tapping a few extra notes into the tablet.

"Easy for you to say," Simmons said, glaring at him. "Ward didn't torture _you."_

Fitz's face went even more pale than usual, and he gripped the tablet so hard Daisy worried he might break it. "I can assure you, Jemma, _he did."_

Simmons slumped against the lab table, the willingness to fight gone out of her as quickly as it had come. "I'm sorry, Fitz," she said quietly before looking at Daisy again. "You're asking us to go easy on him."

"Not exactly," Daisy said slowly. "Don't let your guard down. He's still Ward, and that means every time you go down to see him, every time the barrier comes down, I want at least three combat-trained agents down there with you and armed with ICERs. I don't believe he would hurt either one of you again, but I'm not willing to risk it. I'm just asking you not to seek revenge. You don't have to be nice to him, and you definitely don't have to like him. But no sucking the air out of the cell. No painful and unnecessary tests." She paused, then added, "No using the inertial confinement laser barrier to cut off his sight and hearing unless absolutely essential. Deal?" she asked, looking between them.

Fitz and Simmons looked at each other, seeming to communicate with their eyes. It wouldn't have surprised Daisy if she learned the two had developed telepathy. In fact, with the way they already were with each other, she wondered if she and the rest of the team would even notice.

Finally, they turned back to her. "Deal," Simmons said for both of them.

Daisy sighed in relief. _Two down, one to go,_ she thought, dreading the conversation she needed to have with Coulson. Which she was probably running late for now. She thanked FitzSimmons and then took off for Coulson's office.

When she arrived, May was already there, sitting in one of the chairs across from Coulson. He gestured for her to take a seat, and she did, offering him a tired smile.

"Agent May tells me your mission was a success, Agent Johnson?" he asked, skipping the pleasantries.

"Yes, sir. Hive is contained in Ward, and Ward is contained in Vault D." She debated for a moment, wondering how to start the conversation she needed to have, then decided to start by saying, "He's being cooperative and allowed me to escort him back to the base and into Vault D without a fight."

Coulson's eyes hardened, and Daisy knew she had a fight of a different kind ahead of her.

"If he's cooperating, it's because there's something here he wants. I'll have two guards placed outside Vault D around the clock." He scribbled a note to himself to have that done, but with the chaos of his desk, Daisy couldn't imagine the note would actually help. He'd remember or he wouldn't.

"Actually," May said, "I believe what he wants is to keep Hive from being released on the world again. Daisy has a few ideas to ensure Ward's continued cooperation, and those ideas would likely make Ward's time here easier on us all."

The relief Daisy felt was equaled only by the anxiety she felt at being put on the spot. All the same, she was grateful to May. Even when the other woman had said she'd back her, Daisy had expected silent solidarity, or maybe a disapproving glare in Coulson's direction, at best. An outright statement of support was more than she ever would have hoped for.

"Yes, Daisy?" Coulson asked. "What are you thinking? We don't have much leverage to use against him, so I'm open to ideas."

"Kind of...the opposite of that, actually," Daisy said, pushing past the lump in her throat and the urge to flee. "I want to make things less miserable for him. My initial ideas were a TV and some books, just so he has something to do other than stare at the wall and listen to Hive. I'd also like him to have regular visits with a psychologist."

"Yes, Agent May mentioned that Hive is very vocal," Coulson said. "But Hive or no Hive, Grant Ward is a monster. You don't coddle the monster. You put it in a cage or kill it before it can hurt anyone else."

"I understand that, sir, but it's my belief that the person most likely to be harmed by Ward at this point _is_ Ward. He can't contain Hive if he's dead, and if Hive gets free, even if he _doesn't_ kill us all, we will never be able to pull off a resurrection like that again. He'd be watching for it. Ward can't be allowed to hurt himself, and adding a few comforts to his life is a much more efficient solution than strapping him down and keeping him under constant suicide watch."

Daisy wanted to throw up. She was arguing about efficiency and the proper distribution of manpower, when what she really wanted to be saying was that locking him up with no distractions and nothing to do except listen to Hive was _wrong._ Cruel and unusual punishment, even, in this case. Arguments like that might have swayed Coulson once, but that rarely worked anymore, and it _definitely_ wouldn't when the subject in question was Grant Ward.

"I see what you're saying, Daisy," Coulson said, his voice a bit more gentle, "but every time we try to show any kind of mercy to Ward, it blows up in our faces, and people die. Haven't we all lost enough?"

May shifted in her chair, likely thinking of Andrew Garner, Lash, whose death finally came about due to Hive's influence. _No wonder she's helping with Ward,_ Daisy thought. _She may hate him, but she knows he's a huge improvement over Hive._

Daisy stood her ground and thought over her next words for several long seconds. What she had to say would likely backfire horribly and get her kicked out of Coulson's office, at the very least. The odds of it actually working out for her were terribly low, but she felt her bones telling her that her feelings on the matter were going to come out of her mouth or be expressed in earthquakes. Staying silent wasn't an option anymore.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't remember showing Ward any mercy. I remember trading him to his abuser like one of your vintage Captain America trading cards."

Silence filled the room. May was the first to react, her face registering a shock that told Daisy that May had _not_ been prepared for this when she'd offered her support. She saw this only out of the corner of her eye though. Most of her attention was on Coulson, whose face had frozen in the moments after Daisy had spoken. Now every bit of emotion and warmth drained from his face, and he looked at Daisy with cold, hard eyes.

"Fine," he said. "Do whatever you want to Vault D to make it more... _hospitable._ You're so concerned with Ward? Congratulations, he can be your new project. If you want him to have amenities, I won't stand in your way, but you are not to use SHIELD funds for him. SHIELD provides the room and the food, and that's it. Unless you'd also like to get him higher quality food, then bribing the cook comes out of your pocket too."

"And the psychologist?" Daisy asked, knowing full well that she was pushing her luck.

"Ask around if you want, but I won't let you order one of our people to talk to Ward. If you can find someone with that sort of training who wants to do it on a volunteer basis when they are not on the clock, well, I can't dictate how my employees spend their free time."

Daisy was squirming in her seat like she was a child being yelled at by the principal, but he continued. "I have two other conditions for this arrangement. The first, obviously, is that no matter how nice you want to make his prison, it will _remain a prison._ He is not to be given free reign to roam, even around Vault D. He stays in the cell. If the barrier needs to come down, there will always be trained agents there to knock him out should he try anything. The last condition is that you have now made Grant Ward _your problem._ I'm a busy man. If there's a significant update in his condition, as far as Hive goes, then I want to hear about it, but other than that, I don't want to have to think about him or about how he's being treated. He has already claimed far too many hours of my life, far more than he's worth."

"Sir-" Daisy started, but he kept talking.

"To review," he said, holding up the index finger on his right hand, "No SHIELD funding." A second finger went up. "Ward stays put, and," he raised another finger, "this is now _your_ problem, not mine."

"Yes, sir," she said, choking back the urge to cry. Coulson had never spoken to her like that before. She'd gotten what she wanted, more than she bargained for, but she wondered at what cost it had come.

"Great," Coulson said. "Now get out of my office. Both of you. I've got work to do."

Daisy bolted from the office, not looking behind her to see if May was following or standing her ground to give Coulson the scariest death glare he was likely to experience in his life. She wanted to thank the other woman, and maybe apologize, but she needed some fresh air immediately. She felt like she was going to suffocate under the weight of Coulson's anger and disappointment. So she ran. She nearly jumped down the stairs and ran past the dining and recreation rooms, past the open door to the hangar, and out into bright sunlight. Only then could she finally take a deep breath and clear her head.

That had been a hell of a low blow she had dealt, but she couldn't take it anymore. She told herself that it wasn't about _Ward,_ but about their differing philosophies involving prisoner care. Particularly when that prisoner was saving the world by sitting in that cell.

Daisy stood outside for several minutes, taking deep breaths and calming herself down, willing the tears away. She had only been back at the Playground for an hour, maybe, but it felt like days. She should go see Lincoln, but after what May had said about his behavior while she was gone, she had a feeling he'd only make her feel worse. What might make her feel _better_ was making good on her promise to Ward.

She headed back in the building and headed to the hangar. She wondered if Coulson would interpret her using a SHIELD vehicle to transport stuff for Ward as "using SHIELD funds," but decided he couldn't possibly be that petty. She grabbed a set of keys from the wall and found the car they belonged to, then climbed in and set her GPS for the nearest Best Buy.

* * *

Ward was sitting on the bed in Vault D, wishing he'd listened more to the people who used to drone on at him about the benefits of meditation, more specifically how they managed to clear their heads and get to their meditative states. It probably wouldn't have helped with Hive, but it would have given him a nice goal and something else to think about.

Hive was laughing at the very idea of Ward meditating.

The door to the vault creaked open, and two burly agents came in, their ICERs in hand and pointed at him. Next came Fitz and Simmons, the latter rolling a small cart containing everything she would need for her first run of tests. Finally, a third agent came in behind them, closed the door, placed his back to it, then also raised an ICER in his direction.

 _You think they're here to help you?_ Hive whispered. _No one in the world wants you dead as much as these two._

At least he was whispering now. He seemed to have exhausted his energy during his tantrum earlier. He hadn't stopped talking entirely, but he'd limited his comments and lowered the volume. Ward knew he was lucky to have that much. _They're right to feel that way,_ he thought. His betrayal had hurt everyone, himself included, but Fitz and Simmons had gotten the worst of it, not once but twice. He could barely even look at Simmons, but he forced his eyes to her when she started talking.

"We're here to run a number of tests," Simmons said, looking down at her tablet instead of looking at him. Apparently he wasn't the only one with issues. "We will be lowering the barrier to take these tests. Any sudden movements will result in being shot multiple times with the ICERs."

Unlike Simmons, Fitz was studying Ward closely. "Daisy asked us not to torture you, despite what you've done to us, and we agreed. So long as you don't do anything else."

Ward nodded in agreement. "I know this doesn't mean anything coming from me, but I'm not going to hurt you. Where do you want me? Standing with my hands in the air? Sitting on the bed?" He hadn't gotten to see Fitz and Simmons in their element for a while, and he now realized how much he'd missed. The last time he'd seen them, they were just at the beginning of whatever it was between them, and he'd used it against them. Now they were more in sync with each other than ever, and it was almost unnerving.

"Sitting on the bed should be fine," Simmons answered. She picked up the tablet off of the chair in the observation area and gave it to Fitz. "If you'd like to do the honors, Fitz."

Fitz took the tablet, and Ward backed slowly toward his bed, keeping his eyes on the agents. ICERs wouldn't kill him, but being knocked unconscious wasn't pleasant, and he didn't want any of them to get jumpy. He sat down when he felt the bed behind him, and Fitz brought the barrier down. Simmons rolled her cart into the open cell and grabbed a blood pressure cuff. He slowly extended his arm to allow her to wrap it around his bicep, but to his surprise, she snapped it on around his wrist. There was a small display screen on it. She started it going and it began to squeeze.

"Just so you know," he said, trying to alleviate the tense silence, "I didn't ask Skye to do anything for me."

 _Saddling you with these two is not doing you any favors,_ Hive said.

The monitor made a distressed sound, and he was able to see the numbers take a drastic jump up into heart attack territory, then gradually drop back down.

"No talking while your blood pressure is being measured. It could disrupt the results," Simmons said stiffly.

Ward was quiet. He didn't want to be shot just because he couldn't follow directions.

The little monitor beeped, and Fitz added, "She goes by Daisy now."

"So I've been told," Ward replied. As Simmons was removing the cuff from his wrist, he said, "Anyway, I promised Skye I'd keep you guys in the loop about anything weird that happened with Hive, so I should probably start by saying he just talked, and then my blood pressure and pulse spiked. Probably related."

The scientists looked at each other, probably debating whether they'd like to scold him for his blatant refusal to use Skye's new name, but after a few seconds, Simmons replied, "Yes, almost certainly related, but whether it's psychological or physiological remains to be seen. Please extend your arm again. I need to take some blood."

 _Better hope the needle she uses is new. Who knows what she could infect you with?_ Hive whispered.

 _There's not an infection or disease on this planet that could possibly be worse than you,_ Ward shot back, extending his arm. Simmons wrapped a tourniquet around it, asked him to make a fist, and stuck the needle into the crook of his elbow. To his surprise, it barely hurt. Apparently she was being true to her word. He knew she could have made it hurt a lot worse and he never even would have considered that she had done so out of spite. She took three small vials of his blood, then took the needle out and bandaged him up.

A quick series of tests followed to gauge his neurological function, and he was reasonably sure he passed. Finally Simmons looked at Fitz, who had been taking notes for her, and said, "I wish we could get a CT down here. He seems fine and we probably wouldn't be able to see anything anyway, but I'd feel better if I could get a picture of the inside of his head."

"Not a chance in hell we could get approval to take him upstairs," Fitz answered. "Probably not ever, but definitely not on day one."

Simmons's face tightened in disapproval, but she said, "Well, I think that's all I can manage until I can look at the results and run tests on the blood." She gave Ward her attention again. "We'll be back down soon, probably, and I'll look into the psychologist Daisy requested for you."

He tensed, and all three agents tensed in reaction. He tried to calm himself and said, "I don't need a shrink."

"No one else needs a shrink more, probably, but either way, Daisy asked me to find you one, so you're getting one." She rolled her cart out of the cell, and the second she was clear of the barrier, Fitz put it back up.

"Wait," Ward said, getting to his feet now that they knew they were safe from him. He looked back and forth between them, took a deep breath, and said, "I...Listen, for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

If he hadn't meant it, the looks on their faces would have been worth it. But he did, whether they believed him or not.

Fitz motioned the three agents out of the vault. They wouldn't be lowering the barrier again today, so the guard was no longer necessary. More importantly, Ward knew that they didn't want their own internal scars laid bare to people they hardly knew.

Once they were gone, Simmons asked, "Sorry for what exactly? For killing Eric Koenig? For dropping us to the bottom of the ocean? For torturing Bobbi? For torturing _me_ and making Fitz listen?"

"For _everything,"_ Ward replied, putting his hands against the barrier and looking at Simmons seriously. He realized that sounded dismissive though, so he added, "For each and every one of those things. I'm sorry. You both deserved better."

Simmons looked away, either unwilling or unable to think of a reply, but Fitz was staring at him with wide eyes. "Jesus, Ward," he said, "what the hell did Hive _do_ to you?"

"He held up a mirror," Ward said, then took his hands away from the barrier and headed back to his bed, keeping his eyes on the far wall and giving them a clear signal that he was done talking. He wanted them to stay and distract him, but he didn't want to talk about _that,_ and if they stayed, that's the only thing they'd want to talk about.

He heard the vault door open and two sets of footsteps walking away. Before the door shut again, he heard a sigh that could only belong to Fitz, then the door closed and silence returned.

 _Excellent,_ Hive giggled. _Alone again._

It was going to be a long night.


	7. Chapter 7

**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Something seems to have gone wrong with Chapter Six, the previous chapter, in that notifications that it was published weren't sent out, at least to the people I know in real life who follow my work. In other words, if you have been following this story since before chapter six and were depending on getting an email for an update, please check out the previous chapter to make sure you read it.

Last Last Chance

Chapter Seven

 _Something was off about the cell, Ward was sure of that. Whatever it was, it had woken him up. The vault door was open, but that didn't matter. It might as well be a thousand miles away so long as the barrier was up, except...it wasn't._ That _was what was wrong with the cell. The electric edge he could almost taste in the air when the walls were up wasn't there. He stood and went to the invisible barrier, expecting to see the grid when he tried to touch it, but his hand went through. The barrier had failed. Was it a power outage? Maybe, but it was damn convenient for a power outage to happen_ and _for someone to leave the vault door open. Wasn't the barrier on its own generator anyway?_

 _He walked to the door and through it, expecting agents to appear at any moment with ICERs to force him back into his cell. He would go willingly. He wasn't trying to escape, but if something had gone catastrophically wrong in the Playground, they might need all the help they could get. Even their psychotic basement-dwelling prisoner. He started heading for the stairs, ready to raise his arms in surrender if he ran into any agents._

 _He rounded the corner and found the agents he was expecting, except they were dead on the ground. Blood was spattered all over the walls, and when he looked at one agent more closely, he saw the wounds that had ended his life had been caused by large claws. He'd never even had time to draw his weapon. Ward took it instead, clicking the safety off and making sure it was loaded. If there was something loose in the Playground, something that was killing people, he knew what his priority was._

 _Skye._

 _Knowing that time could be of the essence, but not wanting to attract attention, he moved as quickly and quietly as he could as he went up the stairs and came out onto the dark main level. There was no screaming and, as far as he could see, no dead bodies. He went out into the main hall and looked toward the door that led to the outside. It was open, hanging off one hinge. It was possible, then, that whatever had killed those men had only done so out of necessity while trying to escape. He doubted it could have taken out the whole base, and if the remaining agents knew about it, the main level wouldn't be so quiet._

 _Ward didn't really need answers yet. He_ needed _to know that Skye was safe. He'd never been allowed to wander the Playground freely, but it had a similar layout to other SHIELD bases he'd been in over the years, so he knew where the living quarters were. He just had to guess which one would belong to Skye. The last thing he needed was to accidentally knock on Coulson's door in what must be the middle of the night. He went in the direction he assumed the living quarters were and quickly discovered that he was right. There were nine doors in the living quarters on the southern side, where he found himself, and another eight on the northern side, but he knew Skye would have chosen the southern side because the shooting range was on the north, and it would have woken her up in the morning if she was sleeping near it. He looked over the area and decided she would most likely be in the far corner room, both because it meant she had only one neighbor and because it was closest to the labs where Fitz and Simmons spent most of their time._

 _He went over to the door and tucked the gun into the back of his pants after putting the safety back on, then raised his hand to knock. Before he could, the door was wrenched open, and Skye was there, in a threadbare tank top and boxer shorts. She looked at him with wide, worried eyes. "Ward? What's happening?"_

 _He was so relieved to see her okay after the carnage he'd seen downstairs that he forgot about all the blood that had been spilled between them, pulling her into his arms in a tight hug. To his surprise, she didn't fight him, instead hesitantly wrapping her arms around his waist. He pulled back after a few seconds, but couldn't seem to take his hands off her. They brushed, seemingly of their own accord, against her arms, her waist, her hair. Her neck._

 _Her puzzled eyes turned fearful when his hands wrapped around her neck and began to squeeze._

" _No!" Ward shouted. "What? Stop! I'm not doing this! I would_ never _do this!"_

 _His hands continued to squeeze, and although Skye grabbed and clawed at him to make him stop, her small body was no match for the strength he'd honed over years of fighting to stay alive. Fighting like she was now. He was trying to stop, ordering his hands to release her or for something to go fatally wrong in his own body, because he'd rather die than harm Skye._

 _Her attacks against him were growing weaker, and the light behind her eyes was dying. "Stop," Ward whispered, his voice breaking as tears leaked from his eyes. "Please. I'm sorry, Skye. I'm so sorry."_

 _She stopped struggling, and a voice in his head started to laugh._

Ward jerked awake to the sound of Hive's maniacal laughter. This had been the third night in a row that he'd dreamed of killing Skye, though each dream had been different. Hive seemed to have more control over his mind when he was asleep, and the immortal knew exactly how to torture him.

He guessed the time to be just after 5 AM, and that was a blessing. He would never get back to sleep after that dream, so at least he'd woken up at a time close to when he would have anyway. He rolled out of bed and brushed his teeth at the sink that popped out of the wall when he needed it, then went through his morning workout routine.

It was like he never left.

* * *

Daisy looked at the small pile she'd gathered to bring down to Ward in Vault D. She'd done well, scouring each store's website for the best sales she could find and making sure those sales were honored in physical stores. She'd found most of the books he wanted at thrift stores. She had managed not to pay full price for a single thing she'd gotten for him. That hadn't been necessary. SHIELD paid decently and provided everything she could possibly need, so she had a nice savings account for a person of her age, particularly one who used to live in her van. But somehow spending as little as possible on everything she needed felt good. Like sticking her tongue out at Director Coulson for making her feel like crap for wanting to treat Ward like a human being.

She hadn't talked to Coulson since that discussion, three days ago, but she figured he'd call when he needed her. He had given her an idea when he was yelling at her though, and that morning, she'd slipped the cook a bribe to make sure Ward's food wasn't tampered with and that he got the same quality as she did. No more prison gruel.

All in all, she'd managed to obtain a flatscreen Smart TV with Netflix on it (she was most proud of this, as she'd had to talk the management at Best Buy into offering her the floor model at a discounted price before they were ready to part with it), a TV stand, a bookshelf, and about thirty books. She'd bring him more if and when he exhausted the list he'd given her, plus those she'd added because they jumped out at her as things he might enjoy.

Now she was just waiting for Mack to join her with the two other guys he promised he'd find. She needed people to carry stuff down to the vault. Mack had helped her get the stuff from the car to the hallway, but decided they needed more people to get it downstairs and set up. Now she was standing guard over it until he came back with help.

Her phone chimed and she pulled it out of her pocket to look. _Damn._ She was due in Coulson's office in five minutes for a briefing on a new mission, and she and Lincoln were meant to be on their way in thirty. She scanned the hallway for Mack again and saw him approaching with two agents she didn't know. She'd wanted to oversee the setup of Ward's new stuff, but it looked like if she wanted to do that, it would have to wait until she returned from her mission, and she didn't know how long that would be. She didn't want him to have to wait.

As Mack approached, she pulled her little notebook out of her back pocket and scribbled a a short note to Ward, then ripped it out of the notebook and folded it in half. "Listen," she said when Mack got into hearing range, "I hate to bail on the heavy lifting, but Coulson is calling me for a new mission. Please, please tell me I can count on you to get all this set up down there without maiming or killing Ward?"

Mack laughed and said, "Tremors, half the base knows you went toe-to-toe with the director himself to get this done. I'm actually looking forward to setting this stuff up. Once we have everything down there, I'll put Nystrom and Turano," he gestured to the two men behind him, "on ICER duty and should be done pretty quick."

Daisy smiled, relieved. Mack always had an interesting way of looking at things, and he was the one person in the base who she really trusted who _hadn't_ been betrayed by Ward when SHIELD fell. Now that she thought about it, she was almost sure Mack had never even _met_ Ward, just heard the stories. He wouldn't harm Ward over what everyone had said about him without at least forming his own opinion first. She handed him the folded piece of paper. "Can you give that to Ward when you're done?"

"Sure," Mack said, taking it and tucking it into a back pocket. "Now you better get up to Coulson's office. Best not to piss him off any more, don't you think?"

She gave him a smile and a shrug and then took off for Coulson's office at a jog. No need to make things any more unpleasant than they already were. Maybe the mission would be interesting, at least.

* * *

"This is crap. Ridiculous crap. Insane crap!" Daisy complained to Lincoln in the quinjet. She knew May could hear her up in the cockpit, but she didn't care. In fact, she directed her next question to May. "Have you ever seen a file this thin? There's no information here."

May refused to comment, but she was fighting a smile.

"We're supposed to investigate-" Lincoln started.

"Laughter! We're supposed to investigate people laughing in South Carolina. That's it. Laughing. That's all we know."

" _Unnatural_ laughing," May added.

Well, she was right about that. Rumors were flying around Greenwood, South Carolina about people being overcome with the urge to laugh, and not being able to stop for anywhere from five minutes to a few hours. Several had been admitted to the local hospital and put on a psych hold because they couldn't stop laughing long enough to tell the doctors they weren't crazy. There was no known source, and the town had already checked for gas leaks and all the other obvious causes for the strange behavior. Rumors had reached SHIELD, and Daisy and Lincoln were sent to investigate.

Daisy found it very suspicious that she should be sent on a mission with almost no information to go on right when she was about to really get started on her Vault D project, and she wanted to ask May about it, but she couldn't with Lincoln there. If her solo mission to resurrect Ward had been an issue for him, she couldn't even imagine how he would react to the concern she felt for him. Things with Lincoln had been strained since she returned, on both sides. His ego was still bruised over her refusing his offer to help with Hive, and she was looking closer at their relationship since her talk with May.

All in all, the timing for this mission, if it could be called that, couldn't be worse.

* * *

After Agent Mackenzie finished making Vault D more hospitable, he left with the two other agents he'd brought, leaving a very confused Ward in his wake. The two men, who he hadn't gotten the names of, had been the standard type he'd gotten used to from SHIELD: quiet with hard faces and ICERs pointed at him should he make one wrong move. Agent Mackenzie – Mack, as he'd asked to be called – was different. He introduced himself, exchanged pleasantries, and even made a few comments on the books Skye had picked up for him.

In another life, they probably could have been friends.

Ward unfolded the note Mack had passed him before he left. It was only two lines of Skye's somewhat messy scrawl, but he laughed quietly at what she'd written:

Netflix username: I_sank_your

Password: ?

"Battleship," he murmured.

He suddenly doubled over, coughing harder than he ever had before. Worse than the worst flu he'd had in his life, one of the winters out in the woods. He'd thought he was going to die out there for a few days, and this felt worse. He covered his mouth out of habit, not courtesy. There was no one in the cell he could get sick. When the coughing finally ended, he pulled his hand away and saw the phlegm he'd expected, but it was full of tiny black spots.

Hive started screaming. No words this time, just deafening, enraged screams.


End file.
